HADITHA MASSACRE IS THE NORM, ACCORDING TO SOLDIERS INVOLVED

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Dad supports Pendleton Marine investigated in Haditha incident

MERIDEN, Conn. - The father of a Camp Pendleton Marine being investigated in the deaths of two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, said Monday he does not believe his son would have intentionally killed innocent civilians.

"I just don't believe that he would do something like that," said Dave Wuterich, the father of Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, in an interview at his Meriden home. "He is a very caring kid, always trying to help somebody out, very smart, and I don't think he would do something like that. I really don't."

Frank Wuterich's lawyer, Neal A. Puckett, told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday that the event was tragic, but he denied innocent people were killed intentionally and said troops followed military rules of engagement.

No one has been charged in the Haditha case, which centers on allegations that a small number of Marines from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, killed 24 Iraqi civilians, including unarmed women and children, on Nov. 19 after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine.

Puckett quoted the sergeant as describing a house-to-house search that went wrong and resulted in unintended civilian deaths. Wuterich denied allegations of an intentional massacre, Puckett said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/14800803.htm

According to a CNN story the back door of the house full of civilians was given little initial attention by US Marines and after the killings found open, which allegedly prompted other killings. Is it "standard procedure" to only secure one door of an isolated dwelling when suspected insurgents are inside? We will not catch many terrorists if that is the case.